The Philippines could trim its dairy imports as the country’s milk self-sufficiency ratio (SSR) is projected to rise to 3.3 percent this year, according to the National Dairy Authority (NDA).
NDA Administrator Marcus Antonius Andaya said the agency is banking on dairy herd expansions through its stock farms and feed centers to expand local milk output.
‘Our goal for this year is 3.3 percent (sufficiency), and we’re confident that we can hit that through the arrival of imported animals and our operational stock farms and feed centers,’ Andaya told reporters in a recent interview.
He said reaching the 3 percent milk SSR will be ‘good enough,’ since raising it to 1 percent ‘took 30 years in the making.’ The NDA is targeting to increase milk SSR to 5 percent by 2028.
‘If we get 3 percent in 2026, then 4 percent in 2027, then 4.5 percent by 2028, that’s not bad. We shoot for the moon, then still land among the stars (if we narrowly miss the goal).’
The projected rise in SSR, which determines the extent to which local production can meet its domestic requirement, also corresponds with the adjustment in NDA’s forecast for milk output this year.
For 2026, the agency is targeting another all-time-high milk output of 53 million liters, up from last year’s record of 43.3 million liters.
The outlook is partly anchored on the arrival of 1,600 heads of Holstein-Jersey cattle from Australia, which Andaya said, could arrive in October.
Of this, he said 800 heads were procured from its 2025 budget, while the remaining were purchased through this year’s funding. Meanwhile, Andaya said the dairy industry was not excluded from the rippling effects of the Middle East war, citing an increase in animal costs abroad.
He noted that each dairy now animal costs around P220,000, higher than the pre-crisis rate of P180,000.
Currently, the NDA chief said the agency is operating four stock farms in the country, which were established in General Tinio, Nueva Ecija; Ubay, Bohol; Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur; and Carmen, Cotabato. He added that another stock farm in Malaybalay, Bukidnon, is set to be completed and operational this year. Each 50-hectare farm with a capacity of 150 heads costs P50 million.
Andaya said the agency is seeking a budget of P1.5 billion for 2027 to build additional stock farms, three of which will be in Sorsogon, Baguio, and Negros.
The purpose of a stock farm is to breed, grow, and acclimate imported dairy animals before distributing them to Dairy Multiplier Farms (DMFs) and eventually to local farmers. Government data showed that the country’s milk production rose by 6.47 percent to 11.79 million liters in the first quarter of 2026 from 11.07 million liters recorded in the same period last year.